(en) Britain, afed: Transnational Anarchists in Solidarity with Mapuche People - week of protest called on 29th of January to 4th of February 2018.

Date
Sun, 28 Jan 2018 12:12:47 +0200

The Anarchist Federation's sister organisation in Argentina, the Federación Libertaria
Argentina (FLA-IFA) is calling for protests against the Argentinian government and the
international clothing company Benetton during the week of 29th of January to 4th of
February 2018. ---- Ironically, the slogan ‘United Colours of Benetton' portrays the
company as ethnically diverse and anti-racist in its core statement of values. In fact, it
is buying huge areas of land in Argentina, stolen in the first place from the indigenous
Mapuche people in Chile and Argentina. Mapuche activists and others taking a stand against
this have been designated ‘terrorists' by the state ("RAM report" of the Ministry of
National Security) in an attempt to undermine support for them and justify further
repression. In August, the anarchist Santiago Maldonado was abducted and found murdered.
Another comrade Rafael Nahuel, was also killed but is receiving less attention in the
media. Anarchists and the Mapuche people ask for our support to defend their comrades and
communities.

The following statement is endorsed by the International of Anarchist Federations, of
which the Anarchist Federation is a member. Below it you will find a link to a communiqué
issued in December signed by the FLA and many other organisations in response to the
state's RAM report.

HONOR TO THE ANARCHIST COMRADE SANTIAGO MALDONADO WHO WAS ABDUCTED AND MURDERED BY THE
ARGENTINIAN STATE AND TO RAFAEL NAHUEL OF COLECTIVO AL MARGEN SHOT DEAD BY POLICE DURING A
LAND EVICTION

On 1st August 2017, at the province of Chubut in the Argentinian Patagonia, a community of
the Mapuche indigenous people, together with people in solidarity with them, blocked a
street in the area near Benetton's headquarters, in protest against the acquisition of the
Mapuche territory by the company. Police forces attacked the demonstration with gunshots
while the protesters were trying to defend themselves.

During the police operation, the anarchist activist Santiago Maldonado was arrested,
forced violently into a white van - witnessed by many people - and abducted, since from
that point on he went missing. Two months later, his body was found in a river in
Patagonia, a brutal reminder of the 30,000 people who were "disappeared" during the Junta
period, an enduring mark in Argentinian history preserved in collective memory in a way
similar to nazi crimes.

The comrade's abduction had triggered a large number of dynamic mobilizations throughout
Argentina, demanding Santiago's return. Meanwhile, the state, the police and the media
engaged in a campaign aiming to criminalize the resisting Mapuche community and the
anarchists and denied any responsibility for the comrade's abduction, while focusing their
propaganda on conspiracy theories around the comrade's disappearance or on targeting all
those who stand against the bosses' plans, and especially the anarchists, as the "internal
enemy" and a threat to the state.

The indigenous Mapuche communities - in Chile and Argentina- are struggling to defend
their territory from the plundering and destruction brought upon them by the large
multinational corporations which are granted with these lands by the state. These are the
same territories that the state had seized from the indigenous people through a series of
wars and genocides since the time of the "conquest" of the American continent. In their
struggle, they have faced the persecutions, the imprisonments and the violence of both the
repression mechanisms and the parastatal gangs which operate on behalf of the bosses on
both sides of the Andes. In Chubut, a large part of the Mapuche communities claim their
territories, now owned by Benetton, which is only 1/3 of the total 900,000 hectares they
have bought throughout the country.

Santiago was murdered because, as an anarchist, he chose to stand up and fight on the side
of indigenous people, he chose to stand by the side of the exploited against the torturers
and murderers of the repression forces, against the destructive and antisocial plans of
the state and economic elites.

Rafael Nahuel was a young person of Mapache descent, member of a collective called
Coletivo Al Margen. He took part in protests in defence of the Mapuche people. On the 25
November 2017, the day of the burial of Santiago Maldonado, the police force mounted
another eviction of Mapuche territory. The people there, including Rafael, were attacked
with lead and rubber bullets and pepper spray. A woman and Rafael were both shot with with
lead bullets. The woman survived, but Rafael died.

Comrades Santiago Maldonado and Rafael Nahuel will be present in the ongoing struggles in
every corner of the earth as all those who gave their lives fighting for a free and just
world without inequality, exploitation and repression...

International Solidarity...
-with our comrades in Argentina who are resisting to the repression of the Argentinian state
-with the Mapuche communities and with all the indigenous people who are defending their
land from the exploitation of the modern conquistadores of Benetton.

Rafael Nahuel

(Where is) Santiago Maldonado
COMMUNIQUÉ REGARDING THE ARGENTINIAN GOVERNMENT REPORT CONCERNING THE ANCESTRAL MAPAUCHE
RESISTANCE (RAM) THE TERRORIST IS THE STATE